


I had a feeling about you

by a_slumbering_hime (nap_princess)



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Humour, Modern AU, University AU, fics based on my real life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 15:34:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17604047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nap_princess/pseuds/a_slumbering_hime
Summary: "... assignment ..." He whispers to Sakura.Whispering back, Sakura asks, "What?""Help me submit my assignment." He says.She doesn't even know who this guy is! "Um, when's it due?""In two minutes."What. the. actual. fuck?– SasuSaku, NaruHina, SaiIno and NejiTen, multi-character, university AU





	1. Chapter 1

**I had a feeling about you**

* * *

**chapter One**

* * *

Breaking news – everyone's laptops are broken and everyone is filled with anxiety because assignments are due this week!

* * *

"Have you finished writing your assignment?" Sakura Haruno asks as she climbs up the stairs of the library with Ino Yamanaka. The pink haired university student likes studying on the third floor silent study where mostly everyone is quiet and won't spend half an hour annoying everyone by talking about irrelevant drunk stories.

Ino flicks her long blonde ponytail over her shoulder. "Almost done," She brags a little. "I can probably finish it today but I'll edit it tomorrow to be safe then submit it early."

"That's great!" Sakura replies, always pleased with progress and good grades. She's one of those weirdos that actually  _likes_  studying.

"I know right?" Ino asks then sighs dreamily. "Just enough time to destress myself before going on a date with Sai,"

Sakura only rolls her eyes at this because she doesn't think she's ever seen anyone more in love in her entire life.

The two open a few doors and turn a few halls before reaching the PC silent room. They start whispering as soon as they step into the very room. Sakura swears the silent study is a place where a handful of people will give you  _the_  evil eye for just coughing.

"The place is packed," Ino whispers, glossed lips pressed in a frown.

"We might have to sit in different spots." Sakura whispers back.

Ino lets out a sigh. And Sakura knows why.

Ino can't really stand silence but she doesn't like distractions either. Sakura's okay with silence but she wishes she had her laptop with her. Apparently, this week's assignments are due is when disaster strikes. Sakura's sent her laptop to Kakashi's PC Repair shop three days ago but Ino says it'll take forever before Kakashi calls Sakura back. Because he hasn't even called Ino and the blonde girl handed her laptop over to the shop two weeks ago!

Ino lets her pale blue eyes look around the room, using her taller height as an advantage, before she points to two available seats, just a couple of tables apart and facing away from each other. She asks, "Are those spots okay?"

"Sure," Sakura answers before someone shushes them.

They quickly wave good-bye before settling down to their respective seats. Sakura chose the corner next to some dude who's typing like his life depends on it while Ino sits smack dab in the middle between two people.

Sakura knows she'll get down to business after tying her short hair in a messy bun but Ino will probably listen to some songs before editing her work. Either way, they're not going to move from their seats until dinner time tonight.

…

Sakura's notes are scattered around her desk and her textbook lies open as she fiddles with rephrasing her essay. She is content. In her zone and she writes about topics she knows. She's  _definitely_  getting a first for this assignment!

As the sound of Boccherini Cello Concerto in B flat Major G.482 fills Sakura's ears, she feels a small poke on her left. She blinks away from the screen and turns, she's greeted by a handsome face with dark eyes and dark hair.

 _Oh_ , she thinks.

Oh, it's the dude who has been typing really, really fast for the past half an hour or so. Sakura thinks she's heard him swore a lot too.

"What?" She asks.

He mouths something to her and she takes out an earphone in reply.

She wonders why she's being called by this stranger. Does he want her to guard his stuff for him while he goes off to the bathroom?

"... assignment ..." He whispers.

"What?" Sakura whispers back, wheeling her swivelling chair closer to him. She's never met this dude in her entire life, has he mistaken her for someone in his course?

"Help me submit my assignment." He says then pushes his monitor for her to see his moodle page.

Pink brows furrow back. Why is he asking her? Is he in such a state of panic that he can't think straight and find it?

"When's it due?" Sakura asks as she grabs his mouse without a second thought and starts scrolling through his page. Usually her assignment  _Turnitin_  page was at the bottom but it looks like it's different for this guy.

Dark eyes nervously look back at the monitor. "In two minutes."

Sakura freezes for a second. But only a second, or even less than that, because holy shit, they don't have a lot of time to waste! She just saw his messing around with his essay less than half an hour ago, still editing and typing.

What. the. actual. fuck.

"Two minutes?" She hisses at him.

He can only nod in reply.

Her green eyes zoom around, reading and scanning until she sees two links titled 'Report 1' and 'Report 2'.

"Which report is it?" Sakura asks and instinctively clicks 'Report 2', she could feel her heart racing and her palms sweating.

Oh my God, how dare this beautiful stranger give her this much anxiety? Why is she even doing this for him? Why is she helping him out? Why is she so nice?

"Report one," He tells her and she does a double take and quickly clicks the other link.

"Quick, find your assignment!" She says and he freezes, he doesn't even bother to take the mouse back. Dear Lord, does she have to do  _everything_? Sakura doesn't even suppress her mini-panic screaming and clicks around, trying to work out how to turn in  _his_ essay. "Where did you save your assignment?"

His hand bumps into her and she pulls back so that she can work the mouse. It's just as sweaty. Whoever said hands accidentally touching was romantic? This is a sweaty clustered mess of anxiety!

"Umm ..." He mutters then opens his Word Document and presses the 'save as' option.

He struggles to find a place where to save it and Sakura repeats, "Desktop! Save it in desktop!"

Has two minutes passed yet? She's too afraid to look at the time.

Eventually, he does save it on his Desktop and Sakura slaps her hand onto the mouse, not even caring that his hand is still there. Because she's a responsible student who submits her essay  _two days_  beforehand and  _this idiot_  submits his  _two minutes_  beforehand!

Her heart is still pounding when she successfully uploads his essay on  _Turnitin_  and practically yells at him to name his essay title. He does as he's told, fingers flying then he presses the 'submit' button and all hope is not lost!

That is, unless the webpage crashes or unless the essay gets rejected and – yup, the screen does a loading motion, moving in circles then it displays 'will submit in two minutes'.

Sakura looks at the handsome stranger and handsome stranger legit buries his face in his hands and runs it down his face because _there is no way_  this will go through! She wonders how someone can look  _that_  cute while looking so stress. Wait, no – she's getting distracted but seriously, stop playing with your face, cute stranger!

"Refresh your page, usually it's already uploaded –" Sakura begins to say but the page turns green and signifies that the essay is submitted and that he's safe.

"Fucking hell," He hisses.

They both collapse with relief, Sakura's back hitting the back of her swivelling chair and him thanking God or something. People stare at them for their freak out and over-exaggerated reactions.

Her hand flies up to her chest, calming down her heart. Sakura warns him, "Don't _ever_ do that to me ever again." She holds back from saying 'Especially since I don't even know you'.

He nods his head again and just takes a break. Sakura can see bruises under his eyes from slaving away on his essay and tired lines.

Sakura moves from leaning her back against her chair to face planting in her textbook, one of her earphones dragging along her desk. This was too much stress.  _Too much_  stress for her. She hears him sigh before his chair squeaks. Sakura doesn't know how long she stayed motionless, but Boccherini Cello Concerto in B flat Major G.482 still continues filling her ear. Sakura moans a little before she raises her face, ready to say one more word to the handsome stranger. Just one small scolding for being responsible and dumb and all those bad things.

But when she faces her left, Sakura only sees an empty seat.

Wait –

WAIT, he gave her two minutes worth of anxiety only to leave without saying a word to her? Are you kidding me?! He just – he just  _left_? He owed her! He didn't even say 'thank you'! If he could poke her shoulder to ask for some help then he can poke her again to thank her!

Sakura straightens herself and stares angrily at her monitor. She doesn't even hesitate from saying the bite under her breath, "What a jerk."

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha practically stumbles onto the couch as soon as he drags his ass from the library back to his rented house off campus. He's exhausted but also relieved but also angry at himself. He sinks his head into the leather thing, looking like he might fall asleep that very moment. His room is too far away. He has to walk up a flight of stairs to get to it and he doesn't have the strength to.

Sasuke's so tired that he almost didn't notice Naruto Uzumaki's eating ramen at fucking three PM in the afternoon when he walked into the living room slash dining room.

Naruto states, "You look like hell."

"Shut up," Sasuke quips then groans loudly. Never again. Never again is he agreeing to a night out over his essay. Never again is he going to do an all-nighter.

"Did you finish your essay?" Naruto asks.

"Yeah." Sasuke replies. "But I kind of shut down last minute and asked this girl next to me to help me submit it for me. I think I gave her a little bit of a panic session. She freaked out – hard."

"Why?"

"I told her I had two minutes to find the submission page and she looked like those studious type of people to freak out over one spelling mistake in an e-mail."

"Oh shit, really?" Naruto asks, shoving more ramen into his mouth.

"Hn,"

"Well, it's nice of her though to help you. Don't you think?" The blonde asks.

"Hn," Sasuke mumbles again. He's so tired. He just wants to sleep.

"You owed her, Sauce, big time. Your essay was worth 30 percent of your assessment!" Naruto states. Like Sasuke didn't already freaking know. "Who was she? Someone from your course?"

Sasuke lifts his shoulder weakly. God, they hurt. "No, she was just somebody random."

"So you didn't get her name?"

"No,"

"Really? Then she sounds super nice for helping you out while being total strangers." Naruto tells his friend as he pushes more food into his mouth. "Did you thank her?"

Sasuke pauses, eyes now wide. He answers, "... No."

Naruto nearly chokes on his ramen from yelling at Sasuke, "Dude, what the fuck? Rude!"

* * *

Sakura Haruno hears feet stomping up the stairs and down the hall towards her bedroom before the door flies open. Although Sakura hasn't seen who it is yet, she doesn't even need to guess who it is. She's memorized the sound of her housemate's walking patterns by now so she can tell who's stomping about.

Also because Ino Yamanaka is the only one at home at the moment. Tenten and Hinata Hyuuga are both back on campus, they both have club activities. Tenten's got basketball practice while Hinata's at Hogwarts Society (Gryffinpuff btw because why choose one house when you can be in two?).

Ino finds Sakura curled up in her blanket, bundled, burrito style. Sakura looked like a slug.

"Forehead, dinner." Ino says, sounding royally pissed off.

Sakura only hums angrily in reply. Equally moody.

"It's time to eat. Food time." Ino states, her hands now on her hip. "You _love_  food. Get up."

More angry humming from Sakura.

Ino taps her foot impatiently. "You left me to make dinner all by myself. You haven't said shit since we left the library. You just went straight to your room as soon as we got home. I had to manage three pots on the stove while you were doing whatever in your room. What's up? Are you upset or something?"

"I  _am_  angry," Sakura admits, not even hiding her saltiness.

"It is so bad that food can't solve it?" Ino asks, her hands leaving her hips.

Sakura shifts on her bed before answering, "… Maybe,"

"What happened?" Ino asks, moving to sit beside Sakura on her plushie filled bed.

"Some guy practically gave me a heart attack. He asked me to help him submit his essay at the last minute then just left me without thanking me."

"What?!" Ino snaps because how dare someone make Sakura feel that way. "Who was he? What's his name? I'll beat his ass!"

"I don't know," Sakura answers, burying herself further into her burrito blanket. "I just know that he was kinda cute."

But Ino's anger does not falter, even at the mention of cute boys. When she's angry with a goal, nothing distracts her from getting even. "So what? That won't stop me from beating his ass."

"So I just don't know who he is." Sakura sighs. "Just – Just ... drop it. I'll make it up to you. I'll cook dinner tomorrow."

Ino's pale eyes does not soften. She stares heatedly until she replies, "I'll only drop it on one condition.

"And that is?" Sakura asks, still low spirited.

"If you ever see him around campus –" Ino pauses for effect. "– take a picture of him and send it to me."

Sakura turns to face the pale blonde. "Ino, I'm  _not_  going to send creepy stalker pictures to you."

"It's not creepy," Ino replies before picking up a random plushie and hitting Sakura in the face with it.

"Ino!"

"Send the picture if you see him, Sakura!"

Sakura would have thrown her hands up in the air if she wasn't limited by her own blanket. " _Ino_! The university's campus is huge! The likelihood of bumping into him again is low. I don't even bump into you or Tenten or Hinata on campus."

"We hung out today," Ino reasoned, plushie raised.

"Today with me and you was an exception because our laptops are broken and we have assignments due." Sakura says.

"But if you do," Ino says, not backing down.

Sakura rolls over so that she won't face Ino. No more plushie smacking now. The pinkette mumbles, "Okay. Alright. Fine. I will. But just so you know, it's impossible that I'll bump into him ever again."

Ino smiles a wide grin, she hugs the soft toy to her chest. "Just don't break your promise."

"Hmm,"

"Good." The blonde replies then grabs Sakura's blanket and  _pulls_. Sakura practically tumbles off the bed. Ino could care less, she says, "Now let's have dinner."

Sakura ends up on the floor and Ino is satisfied. Can this life get any weirder?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes
> 
> Based on a real life event where I was just writing my skeleton argument for Critical Law and this dude was just like "I can't find my submission page and it's due in legit two minutes". Like, excuse me? How dare you give me this panic? Also, I dunno where I'm going with this.
> 
> – 30 October 2017


	2. Chapter 2

**I have a feeling about you**

* * *

**chapter two**

* * *

Hinata Hyuuga watches as Tenten goes through three different phases while writing her essay. Tenten goes from calling herself an idiot for the inability to spell a word to muttering 'fuck off' to no one in particular to singing  _Primadonna_  by  _Marina and the Diamonds_. All in all, Tenten's essay was either a cluster fuck of a mess or a fucking masterpiece.

"Tenten-san, why are you all over the place?" Hinata asks from across the dining table as she eats her brunch. Her first class starts in the afternoon so she's been relaxing at home all morning.

"I forgot I invited some friends over to our house on Friday for pre-drinks. My essay's due on Monday but I have to go grocery shopping on Saturday and spend Sunday preparing for my presentation so I literally have no time to work on my essay except now." Tenten replies after glaring at her laptop.

Hinata answers, chewing on her food. "You have a whole week."

"I barely have five days, Miss HinaBanina." Tenten replies by shaming Hinata with a made-up nickname.

"Can't you reschedule?"

Hinata gets a head shake in reply. Tenten says, "I can't let down the team and cancel our plans."

"What team?"

"Not Wildcats." Tenten says then tells Hinata, "Basketball. I invited the basketball team over to our house."

Hinata's face glows red at Tenten's answer.

And Tenten takes notice of this. She teases, "Oh, is Miss HinaBanina pleased? Are you looking forward to seeing your precious 'Naruto-kun' be a tipsy idiot, spending hours at our house laughing at stupid jokes?"

"N – No,"

"Yes, you are. You know how Naruto gets when he's wasted, hugging everyone and talking their ear off."

Hinata frowns, a cute pout. "Tenten-san, don't embarrass me."

"Guuurl, you've had a crush on his since the second semester of first year. Ask him out!" Tenten urges, her fingers still typing. Multitasking always was one of Tenten's skills.

"Uhhh ..." Hinata looks away pushing her food around. She doesn't dare look Tenten in the eye.

"Are you sure you're a Gryffindor? Be brave!"

"I'm half a Gryffindor but that's not the problem." Hinata argues then looks at the clock on the wall and declares. "Anyways, I have to go to class now."

"I thought it only started at twelve," Tenten smirks knowingly.

"N – No," Hinata lies then quickly gets up from the dining table and packs her brunch up. "I – I mean, y – yes. But I have to meet someone. Just – Just write your essay." She fibs again then scrambles to make her way to campus.

* * *

"Hinata-chan, hi!" A familiar voice calls out.

Hinata swears her heart almost leaped out of her throat. She thinks she looks like a whirlwind of a mess with her eyebags and wind tossed hair and extreme need for coffee. She is the definition of 'The Walking Debt'. Regardless, she can't just leave the person hanging.

Hinata turns, a soft smile on her face. She replies in a small voice, "Naruto-kun, hello."

Naruto Uzumaki beams his usual wide grin at her. "How have you been? I feel like I haven't see you in forever!"

Hinata shrugs. "Oh, you know how hectic second year is. Busy with lectures and readings and essays,"

Naruto nods. "The amount of work is ridiculous. I feel like I haven't had good sleep in months."

Hinata mirrors Naruto's nod then she gestures with her hands at the very coffee shop they're at. She says, "That's why we're here, dying and in need for coffee." –  _Please laugh at my dry humour joke_.

Tenten's humour has rubbed off on Hinata ever since they moved in together in September. The same goes for Ino's swearing and Sakura's stressed studying habits.

And as if on cue, Naruto lets out a laugh. Big and cheery and good natured. Hinata feels glad she's put on this spot. It's almost cute and somewhat romantic. Just this small, fairy-light lit, tired café on campus. They're both waiting in line for their coffee and about five people are ahead of them.

"So, uh – Naruto-kun, what have you been up to?" Hinata asks, trying to be as polite to her crush as possible.

"Umm, well," Naruto rubs the back of his neck, pulling his orange hoodie closer to himself. "I have an essay due next week so I'm just getting a few more books to borrow but other than that there's nothing much."

 _Nothing much?_  Hinata echoes in her head. Her smile wobbles. Does that mean he's not coming to Tenten's pre-drinking plans? Well … well, she supposes it's to be expected. Not everyone has free time. Especially now that essays are due. Not everyone on the basketball team can make it to –

"Oh, wait!" Naruto snaps his fingers. "I almost forgot! I'm also coming to your house for pre-drinks this Friday!"

"You – You are?" Hinata asks back, not hiding her growing smile.

"Yeah," Naruto bobs his head then asks because Hinata sounded so surprised. "Did Tenten not tell you?"

"S – She did!" Hinata clarifies. "I just – I just wasn't sure you were coming."

Naruto lets out a sigh of relief at that. "That's great. I wouldn't want to get kicked out or anything. I'm looking forward to it."

Hinata suppresses the urge to say, 'Me too'.

Naruto continues talking, "I'm going to drag Kiba and Sauce for pre-drinks too. Especially, Sauce, even if it kills me. That dude  _needs_  to chill."

Hinata cocks her head to the side. She asks, "W – Who's Sauce?" She's met Kiba a few times before in first year but she doesn't think she's ever heard of Naruto's other basketball friend.

"Oh!" Naruto produces his phone and quickly scrolls through his gallery. "I'm pretty sure I have a picture of him somewhere in here. You've probably never seen him because he's super anal about social gatherings or any get togethers where there's talking involved but I'll be sure to introduce him to everyone."

Hinata only gets to lean forward and catch a glimpse of one quick forced looking groupfie before someone calls out, "Na … Nurto? Naurto? Uh – someone ordered the expresso?"

Hinata gives Naruto a strange look. He ordered the expresso? Does he  _want_  to die?

Naruto makes a face at this. "This isn't _Starbucks_  but I swear it also kind of is." He pockets his phone and inches towards the counter to get his drink.

Hinata doesn't know why but she follows a little too close behind. She just wants to be by his side.

When Naruto spins around to face Hinata, coffee in his hand, his chest knocks against her face – or rather, her face bumps into his chest. Let's just call it high-fiving but with different body parts.

"Oh shit, are you okay?" Naruto quickly apologizes. "I didn't spill my coffee on you, did I?"

"A – ah, no. it's fine. It's my fault. I – It's okay." Hinata rambles on for a bit. She was sure she was blushing like mad. All because she didn't want her conversation with Naruto to stop.

Naruto sends one worrisome look. "Are you sure?"

"Y – Yes,"

He gives her one last smile before he tells Hinata, "Anyway, sorry but I have to go to the library now and quickly borrow my books before some other bastard steals the last one off the shelf."

"O – Oh, of course," Hinata replies.

"But, I'll see you on Friday, yeah?"

"Yea – Yeah,"

He raises his hand for a high-five for some reason and Hinata complies. But, hey, she got to touch his hand.

"See you later, Hinata-chan!" Naruto calls as he gives her a wave then leaves with the gentle ringing of the bell above the café's door.

Hinata sighs, completely in dreamland. She felt her chest swell. What was that saying? 'I hate to see you leave but I love to watch you go'? Wait – or was that a meme about booty? Oh, shit. She didn't mean it like _that_.

She's still contemplating on her thoughts when someone calls out, "Hanita? Uh, anyone here named Hitnaa? Ordered a vanilla latte? I have dyslexia, you guys, who thought this was a good idea?"

Hinata cringes a little. Oh God, Naruto was right. This place  _was_  like  _Starbucks._

* * *

Sakura Haruno is having the worst flipping out moment in the history of flipping out. She's pretty sure if there was ever a contest for these sort of things, she'd win in a landslide.

It's been a good week since she saw the beautiful stranger who almost gave her a heart attack and made her raise her voice at the silent study room. She thought it'd be the last she'd ever ( _ever_ ) hear from him again.

But no.

Maybe it was Murphy's law or the universe itself trying to prove her wrong because, here she was, just walking towards the library when she sees him. Him – beautiful, handsome stranger just chain smoking outside the library. Thirty feet away from her and blocking her way to the only entrance Sakura needs to use to go where she needs to go.

(Okay, it wasn't the only entrance but there is  _no way_  she's going to do a big loop and use the back entrance. That's on the other side of this dumb building and that would be fucking stupid of her. She's not afraid of him – sorta)

 _I don't need this right now._  Sakura thinks with a scowl.  _I can find other places to do my essay. There are tons of other computer rooms._

(Just none that she likes though. Too much people talking)

Sakura turns her heel, hoping she'd go undetected and manage to get a few chapters under her belt but then – BAM – Ino's voice rings in her head.

" _If you ever see him around campus take a picture of him and send it to me."_

Oh, no!

_"Send the picture if you see him, Sakura!"_

Shit!

" _Don't break your promise."_

Ugh, even in Sakura's memory, Ino's voice is demanding and obnoxiously persistent.

Sakura feels herself break out into a sweat at just the thought of snapping a picture. A secret, unconsensual picture. A creepy stalker picture. Sakura doesn't even stalk people online! She has always felt too guilty and afraid that she'd mess up. Did Ino really expect her to just drop this unspoken rule she's put on herself?

Oh – why was she even thinking about such a question? Of course, Ino would!

 _It's just one picture, Sakura._  She tries to tell herself.  _You can do this!_

_(No, you can't!)_

Sakura takes out her phone and aims her camera. Her hands were shaking and her heart thumps wildly against her chest. This stranger was giving her anxiety –  _again_. She thinks she might just cry.

She aims aaannnddd –

Handsome stranger turns to face her from their far away distance from each other. He must have had sixth sense or some shit because he stares directly into her eyes. Grey smoke twirls towards the sky and his curious frozen state actually looks super hot. Like he's posing just for her but, of course, he's not.

Sakura freezes too. At first, she's internally screaming and then Sakura does what every confused camera person does. She  _poses_  and pretends to take a  _mother fucking_  selfie.

And Sakura swears she is cringing because she was never good with lies or with pictures where she has to do something with her hands. She's a fucking liar and she's just posing the peace sign right now while fake a smiling. She's become the cliché poser girl, she feels so fake!

Just how red is her face right now?!

Handsome stranger is still looking at her and she's still posing and faking. Sakura hopes he doesn't recognize her. Sakura  _really_  hopes he doesn't because that would be awkward and a disaster!

What's she going to do if he approaching her? What's she going to  _say_?! Is she going to exclaim with a pointed finger, "You, essay guy!", leaving out the 'handsome' part somewhere in his title, then demand something from him?

Argh!

Who even takes pictures in front of the library anyways? Selfies to be the exact? Do people even do that? Sakura doesn't know, she's always studying, living in the library, not really caring about fun times when she should be worrying about study time and –

And –

 _Oh my God, why did I make that promise with you, Ino?_ Sakura thinks, she snaps the stalker picture and quickly sends it to Ino then she turns around and flees.

* * *

Ino Yamanaka gasps dramatically, gaping at a message on her phone. She pulls herself away from her cuddling session with Sai to bring the text closer to her face as if she can't believe her own two eyes.

"Beautiful, is something wrong?" Sai asks, pausing the  _Netflix_  show they were watching.

Ino says with a sudden fierceness, "I need to assemble the girls!"

What? Assemble? Who did they think they were: _The Avengers_?

Sai turns to his girlfriend, looking confused as he straightens his posture. "Pardon?"

"I need to go kick ass!" Ino decides.

Okay, now he was officially lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes
> 
> I feel like everything I tell you in this AU is legit my life story but told in pieces. I had to take a 'stalker picture' once because the boy I liked in A-levels was shy and I don't stalk people online ever, it's a phobia of mine. A-levels was ending and I knew I'd never see him again so I was like 'let's snap one photo'. It backfired and I ran home! I was 19 and I haven't had a guy friend since I was 12! Spare me some awkwardness embarrassment! Please!
> 
> Also, this was edited while I am waiting for guests to show up for our Stranger Things 2 marathon. If you see any mistakes, blame it on the fact that I'm eating liquor chocolates. It's not because I'm a shitty editor. Blame it on alcohol.
> 
> – 4 November 2017


	3. Chapter 3

**I had a feeling about you**

* * *

**chapter three**

* * *

"So – Sorry I'm late." Hinata Hyuuga apologizes.

Hinata's ballerina flats catch grassy dew as she moves closer and walks up to Sakura Haruno waiting by a bench near the campus library. She's out of breath because Ino Yamanaka had suddenly sent a bolded-big capital worded screaming message to their group chat to drop everything and meet up.

Sakura looks away from her own pink phone and shrugs, patting a spot for Hinata to take. "It's okay. You're actually early for once. Tenten's not here yet. Either is Ino herself."

"Oh, good. I thought I was late like usual." Hinata takes the seat before producing a water bottle from her backpack and taking a sip of her water. She places a hand on her huffing chest and asks, "D – Do you know why Ino-san sent that message?"

Sakura lets out an uncomfortable hum at this. "… Maybe,"

Hinata raises a brow as she lowers her bottle. "Care to elaborate?"

"Uhh …." Sakura grabs a fistful of her shoulder length pink hair before twisting it around her finger. She's clearly nervous about explaining the situation she's been put into. "Do you … Do you remember that story I told you girls last week? The one about the cute guy who tapped me on the shoulder out of the blue then almost gave me a heart attack when he told me to help him because he had to submit his essay last minutes?"

Hinata nods. "Yes,"

"I just saw him a few minutes ago. I think Ino wants us to help her look him?"

"Look for him?"

Sakura groans. "I mean – maybe? I don't know? I took a picture of him and sent it to Ino because she made me promise to. And now that she's seen his face, she probably won't stop at nothing to beat his ass."

"Y – You took his picture?" Hinata asks, more surprised by that fact about Sakura rather than Ino wanting to hunt some boy down.

Sakura's ears turns red at this. "I didn't want to! Ino made me promise to take his photo if I ever saw him!" Then she whips out her phone and shows the picture to Hinata too. "Look, it's just him standing there smoking his cigarette. It's not weird or anything, I swear!"

Hinata blinks. Once. Then twice. Then Hinata turns away from the phone and at Sakura, she tells the pinkette, "Sakura-san, I – I think I know him!"

"What?" Sakura's green eyes grow wide. "No way!"

Hinata bobs her head. "N – Naruto-kun showed me a picture of him today."

"Why would Naruto specifically show you this guy's photo?" Sakura's eyebrows curved quizzically.

"It – it's not – We were just waiting in line for coffee and he was talking about Tenten hosting pre-drinks for the basketball team. Naruto-kun was just showing me a few pictures of the team and pointing out who was going to our house."

A thought processed through Sakura's mind. Basketball team. Pre-drinks. Their house. The information flies around her head and tumbles and pieces themselves together until a light bulb clicks on in Sakura's brain. And when she sees the big picture, Sakura cuts Hinata short by grabbing her friends sleeve.

"What did you say?" Sakura questions, not because she misheard it but because she has to get clarity.

"He – He's Naruto-kun's friend from basketball?" Hinata repeats, unsure.

"So he's … Wait – he's on the basketball team?" Her grip tightens as Sakura glares at the grass at their feet.

Hinata jolts back from Sakura's sudden action, "Y – Yes,"

"And Tenten's hosting it?"

"At our house. Y – Yes, uh –" Hinata answers. Damn, now Sakura's got her nervous as well.

"When?"

"Eh – Oh, t – this Friday."

"So you're telling me  _this guy_  is coming to our house?" Sakura squeaks, coming to a realization. "He's coming to our house this week?"

"Ah …" Hinata pauses because – holy shit dicks! That was a possibility! The shy girl fumbles and trips over her words, now panicking too. "I – I mean, maybe? It's this Friday, it's only a few days away and anything could come up so – "

"There you bitches are!" Ino waves her hand as she races towards them. "Get up! Quick, let's go go GO! We have to look for that ass!"

A few people walking near Ino turns to her to shoot her confused and curious looks. Someone even makes a face and echoes, "That ass ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"

"There's not time to waste!" Ino shouts, her voice loud and clear.

 _I was right_ , Sakura thought to herself on the topic of Ino wanting to look for Naruto's friend. She stands up from the bench before she pulls Ino to a stop.

"Don't bother." Sakura pleads. "He's been gone for fifteen minutes already. You're too late, he could be anywhere."

"Fifteen minutes?" Ino repeats. She ran all the way from Sai's house back to campus in freaking heels only to be cancelled on? Is this for real?

Then again, she didn't tell the girls why she wanted them to meet up in the first place.

A small pang of guilt twinges in Ino's chest. But that's only because she had convinced Sai to wait until their schedules aligned to watch the second season of  _Stranger Things_  only to ditch him after watching half-way through the first episode. Ino thinks he's probably mad at her though, it is hard to avoid spoilers when it's everywhere on social media. Like, no, seriously, do you know how hard it is to avoid spoilers?

However, the guilt soon melts and is replaced with another feeling. Ah – whatever, Sai will live. Ino's in mission mode.

"Then let's search the whole campus," Ino argues, pushing her ponytail over her shoulder.

"You want us to look  _all over campus_?!" Sakura exclaims. She's wasting valuably study time with these schemes. "Are you crazy?!"

Hinata sits there, third-wheeling as she watches Sakura and Ino bicker for a bit.

Ino objects, frustrated and determined to win. "He's the crazy one!"

"Ino!"

"Sakura!"

"This is unreasonable!" Sakura throws her hands up in the air.

"No, it isn't!" Ino says, pointing her manicured finger to the ground like she was some Mafia Warlord determine to take out a few people, she was gesturing as if to say  _We're getting him today!_

Hands reaching upwards, Sakura covers her face and groans into them as Ino continues debating about the matter. This is so embarrassing! Squabbling in public!

"A – Actually, that's unnecessary," Hinata spoke up. "I – I think I know who this boy is."

At this, Sakura's eyes widen in horror and Ino smiles widely.

Ino whips her head to look at Hinata like she's her saviour of sorts. She claps her hands on Hinata's, trapping the girl.

Hinata immediately sees the error of her ways for speaking up because she was the kind of girl who told truths when under pressure. She just wanted to have an alibi and a clean record. She was never a good liar anyways. She doesn't know how to ignore questions either.

The pale blonde asks, voice still loud. Ino prods for further answers. "You do?!"

Hinata stress smiles. "Sa – Sakura-san sho – showed me a picture of the person you're looking for. I don't know him personally but Na – Naruto-kun says that's his friend.

"And what's his name?" Ino asks, practically jumping for joy that she doesn't have to look far for this guy.

"Ino!" Sakura scolds.

"Shut up, Forehead."

Hinata gives her two friends a wobbly look before answering, "… Sauce."

Ino's smile drops and Sakura wants to slap her hand over Hinata's mouth.  _Holy shit_ , if this girl gives anymore info about this guy then he  _will_  end up dead for sure!

"Who the fuck names their child Sauce?!" Ino asks.

"I – I think that's a nickname," Hinata replies. "He's also on the basketball team."

Sakura slaps her forehead, she feels a headache sprouting. "Hinata, stop answering Ino's questions!"

"I – I can't!

Ino gaps for the second time today and says, "So that means Tenten knows this guy too?"

Sakura and Hinata share a knowing look. No one answers because it's clear that Tenten does.

"Does Tenten know where he lives, right?" Ino questions, pushing her sudden interrogation on Hinata even further.

"Piggy, we're not going to murder him in the safety of his home!" Sakura warns and Hinata's pale eyes grow into wide saucers.

"I'm not going to murder anyone. I can't go to jail now that I'm _this_ close to earning my degree," Ino reasons like every other university student. "I just thought we could TP his house or trash his lawn,"

"Ino!" Sakura scolds again.

"I'm just saying we get go to the dollar store and get some really cheap –"

"No!"

"You're right! We need Tenten here before we can make a final decision!" Ino says, completely ignoring logic and Sakura's rejections. "Where is she at though?"

"W – well, a few hours ago, she told me her lecture got cancelled so she went home to take a nap." Hinata answers, words of regret and under truthful pressure because Ino with a goal is a relentless bitch who doesn't get slowed down.

Ino grabs both her friends' wrist and says with a determined voice, "To Tenten!"

Sakura and Hinata don't even get a chance to protest because the next thing they knew, Ino was booking it back to their house, ignoring the strange looks everyone was giving them and ignoring the fact that they were taking too much space from the small familiar, limited pavement.

...

"TENTEN, FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY, WAKE THE FUCK UP!" Ino's loud voice booms as she practically tears Tenten's bedroom door off its handle.

Sakura and Hinata follow behind, both looking nervous, winded from running and just as confused as Tenten.

Tenten jolts up, sleep written on her face. Her hoodie's pulled over her face and her brunette hair tumbles out in weird places.

"Huh? What?" She asks, brown eyes fuzzy and clouded. What year is it? Did she miss a seminar?

Instead of a verbal answer, Tenten gets her face shoved with Ino's phone screen. It's the Basketball's  _Facebook_ group picture.

"Do you know this guy?" Ino asks, pointing to a specific dark haired boy, before the brunette girl can process what's happening. Ino continues to push her purple phone near Tenten's face as her eyes squint at the suddenly burning light.

It takes Tenten a couple of seconds before she confirms, "Oh, yeah, that's Sauce."

Sakura throws her hands up in the air because there is  _no way_  she's going to have a mini-crush on some guy named 'Sauce'. Hinata leans against the door frame, trying to make herself small and invisible. What kind of nonsense has she somehow dragged herself into?

"Is that his real name?" Ino interrogates, eyebrows pinched together. "Your basketball group won't let me see its members. I think it's locked or something."

"No shit, it's locked." Tenten says, irritable that she's been woken up for this.

"Answer the question."

Tenten makes a face. "Of course, it's not his real name. That's the dumbest name ever to exist if it were,"

"So what's his real name then?" Ino asks.

"Uhh ..." Tenten scratches her head, thinking. "Sasuke ... Uchiha? He's been with the team since first year."

Sakura sighs. Well, if you can't ignore them. Join them.

"Then why haven't I ever seen him joining us for pres?" Sakura asks, remembering random names and faces that have joined them on random drinking nights.

"Naruto-kun says he doesn't like gatherings." Hinata answers, saying something for the first time since Tenten's interrogation.

Tenten blinks, still sleepy. "Uchiha's super anti-social. He only talks to like five people."

Sakura doesn't know if she should feel blessed that Sasuke talked to her or not.

Ino immediately turns to the very same pink haired girl, "Can I beat him up during pre-drinks?"

Tenten finally wakes up after hearing such a comment. She leans over her bed and smacks Ino's arm in return. "The basketball team are my guests, they're my responsibility and I will allow no fighting."

"But," Ino says, hard-headed. "I'm doing this for Forehead."

Sakura presses her lips together. "You can do whatever you like because I'm not going to be home on Friday until ten or eleven PM."

"What?! Why?!" Ino squints her blue eyes as the short girl.

"Sakura-san has orchestra practice on Fridays, remember?" Hinata answers for Sakura.

Sakura nods, pointing to Hinata, glad someone here was sensible to know she doesn't want to be roped into this nonsense. "Ten points for Gryffinpuff,"

Ino looks Sakura in the eye in which Sakura only flutters her eyelashes meekly. Ino frowns. Damn Sakura and her unconfrontational ways.

The pale blonde knows Sakura is a lot of things – a workaholic, a cello player for someone with such a small frame, an awkward ball of anxiety but she never knew Sakura could be a motherfucking bullet dodger.

"Ino-san, w – why don't we just binge watch  _Marriage Boot Camp_  until their pre-drinks are over?" Hinata offers. She knows Ino's always had a weakness for trash reality TV. Hinata's also offering this solution because she feels liable for this whole mess since she's the one who spewed out the basketball issue in the first place. She thinks this all could have been avoided if only she had refused to answer Ino's questions.

But Ino doesn't waver. Hinata gets a sharp head shake in response.

"Come on, Piggy."

"No,"

"Ino-san, please?"

" _No_."

Tenten rubs a tired hand over her eyes. "Ino, just let Sakura handle this. We're all adults. If Sakura wants to talk to Uchiha then she will but there's no point pushing it. It's not like you can stand menacingly outside our house with a bat, waiting for Uchiha anyways. We've all got shit to do. The best thing for now is to just see where this takes everyone."

Sakura sends Ino a pleading look – big green eyes and all. Hinata does the same.

Ino's determination teeters. "I …"

"Just decide already. Go enjoy your trash TV." Tenten demands. "I want to go back to sleep. I've still got twenty minutes to spare."

Ino's blue eyes stare hard. She's so stubborn sometimes but she can be soft too. One by one, she looks at her friends until she can't be so pushy anymore. She lets out a sigh, "Okay, fine."

Sakura high-fives Hinata and Tenten's this close to kicking everyone out.

"But –" Ino pauses for effect, looking straight at Sakura now. "– if you  _ever_  have a chance to talk to this Sasuke dude, take it. Then tell us."

Sakura's face turns sour. "Why?"

"Because you can't just let people like him walk all over you," Ino justifies and suddenly the tables have turned. "You crumble under pressure  _all the time_!"

Hinata nods, slowly but certainly siding with the blonde. "Ino-san is right. You let things slide too easily."

"We might just hold an intervention if you keep letting people take advantage of you." Tenten says.

All eyes were on her now. And just as Ino had said, Sakura crumbles and makes another promise she doesn't technically want to keep. "Okay,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes
> 
> I'm sick again lol
> 
> – 18 November 2017


	4. Chapter 4

**I had a feeling about you**

* * *

**chapter four**

* * *

Tenten wakes up to the sound of the doorbell ringing. She groans loudly before turning to her side, trying to ignore whoever's at the front door. She doesn't know what time it is, her blackout curtain blocks out the very existence of the sun and at times, Tenten forgets to even open them.

She waits – one second, then two then three …

By then she decides it's safe to lull back to sleep but then the doorbell rings again and Tenten wants to punch the person waking her up (that is, if she can will herself to move).

"No," Tenten mutters to herself but the doorbell rings again. Whoever this person is, Tenten decides this very being is chicken shit.

Tenten is barely able to crack open her eye before reading the time. Who the hell is ringing their doorbell at the ungodly hour of nine AM?! Especially today of all days! It's her day off! She feels personally attacked for being woken up this early! Why couldn't Sakura or Ino be home for this chore?

"Tenten-san?" Hinata Hyuuga's voice calls out, probably the loudest Tenten's ever heard her.

Tenten pretends to be dead asleep.

"Tenten-san?!" Hinata calls a little louder this time. Tenten hears the faint sound of the shower running in the background.

"Oh my God, why?! Tenten hollers as Hinata, reluctant to move from her warm bed.

"I'm sorry but –" Hinata answers in the same loud voice. "– but could you please open the door for Neji-nii-sama?"

Tenten sulks. She thinks,  _No. No, you're not sorry Hinata. Not one bit!_

Because Tenten knows Hinata's habit by know. Tenten knows that this sweet girl seems perfect in every way with her good culinary skills and politeness and the smarts to maintain a 2:1 or a 1 in her essays. But Hinata had one flaw that drove everyone mad. She was always late.  _Always_. Out of the four in the house, Hinata was the one who never managed to be on time.

Don't get Tenten wrong, she would willingly launch herself, full body slam, into a fight if it meant she could save Hinata. But she just wished Hinata would be punctual for once in her life. Tenten whispers to herself a little bitterly, muttering about timing and consideration. Because there is a saying that states you shouldn't live with your friends. Feelings can turn salty at times like these.

"Tenten-san?!" Hinata calls, oblivious to Tenten's thinning patience.

"Alright!" Tenten finally answers. She's annoyed enough to say she will lash out if anyone makes the joke of 'Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed'. Tenten tells Hinata, "Alright, fine! I'll open the door for your cousin!"

Tenten, however, doesn't add that Neji is also her arch nemesis. Well … not officially. It's very one-sided. Tenten declared that fact but Neji doesn't seem to care.

She throws off the cover, irritated, with a messy hair don't care attitude before moving in a sluggish manner. With her house keys in her hand, Tenten exits out of her bedroom, goes down the flight of stairs and towards the front door. When she finally unlocks it, she feels the need to hiss at the sunlight shining in her brown eyes.

 _No._  Tenten thinks.  _Just no._

It's too much sun and not enough time to process!

"Took you a while," Neji says, his expression looked unimpressed. He was already bundled up in his winter gear despite it being early November. Yeah, it was getting cold but this guy here.  _This guy_.

Tenten only groans, not even bothering to flip him off. Whatever. He's in the house now. It's time for her to go back to sleep.

"Are you going back to bed?" Neji asks as he takes off his shoes before making his way the couch.

 _No shit, Sherlock._ Tenten thinks. Her onesie isn't warm enough to bind her to this conversation.

Tenten can't really remember why he's here so early. She thinks maybe it's because Hinata wanted to go grocery shopping or something and Neji just couldn't leave his 'baby' cousin to do it alone. He's arguably either a gentleman or a worrywart because Hinata's fucking nineteen and they're all seconds years in university, not second graders who need bodyguards.

She squints at him, not bothering to stop in her tracks. She's going to climb these dumb stairs and crawl into her bed. "Hmm,"

"Without offering me a drink?" Neji asks again. Ugh, did Tenten mention how much she thinks he's super pretentious? He adds, "You're not a very good host."

Tenten doesn't reply. Opening her mouth is too much work. So, this time, she does flip him the middle finger and disappears upstairs. Tenten's pretty sure Neji glared at her.

She doesn't even get the luxury to sink into her covers before her phone beeps. And she knows who it's from because she gave him a specialized ringtone.

"What the fuck?" Tenten mutters as she opens the message.

 **You're rude.** Neji's single sentence message says.

Tenten fingers fly over the keyboard before she can even rethink her decision. She just becomes automatically mean whenever Neji Hyuuga is involved. She writes,  **And you are sad**.

Neji sends back the most stoic picture to ever to have existed with the words,  **You wound me**.

Her brain moves on automatic, she edits the selfie sent to her by adding a single tear emoji and replied,  **There, fixed**.

He doesn't reply after that because Tenten hears Hinata slamming her bedroom door close and rushing down the stairs declaring she's ready to go. Neji must have agreed or something because not a minute later the two cousin's conversation dulls and the front door opens and closes.

Tenten sighs at this. She doesn't even know where the hatred stems from but man, she'll worry about her Neji-Hyuuga-hate-nonsense intervention later. Now, it's time to go back to sleep!

* * *

Ino Yamanaka frowns as she types away, she's slowly losing her train of thought and it's bugging her like mad. The pale blonde is making angry expressions as she glares at the screen. The time blinking at the bottom corner tells her it's almost lunch time.

She grits her teeth. And no, it's not about the essay she's fiddling with. It's about Sauce or Sasuke Uchiha or whatever his name is. Anyone who's anyone knows that Ino is a loud, expressive person. She tells everyone what she wants and what is on her mind.

And for this Sauce person to just put Sakura on the spot like that was really a jerk move. Like, honestly! Ino knows she can be pushy to Sakura too but more for the pink hair girl's own benefit and NOT for  _her_ own.

Ino wants to crash Tenten's drinking session. She's got about a handful of days left. But, ugh! If only she didn't have essays due back to back and presentations and a billion other things to do, she would have had the free time to actually do something! She had used up her free day on Sai (sorta) and then with the girls when confronting the Sauce issue.

Damn, she doesn't even have time to watch her trash reality shows much less find every flaw in Sauce and tear him down in detail. All Ino can do right now is finish her assessments and prays something intervenes. And hopefully.  _Hopefully_ , some cosmic power in this universe hears her.

* * *

"What's up, sluts?!" Kiba Inuzaka exclaims as he walks into the joint living room slash dining room, dirty sports shoes dragging mug and grass on the carpet tiled floor. His housekeys jangle loudly and the music blaring from his headphones automatically makes his two housemates cringe at the disturbance of the peace.

Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki look up from their laptops, paperwork littering the dining table. They were the exact opposite of sluts right now. Naruto was working on his essay while Sasuke was catching up in his reading. It's only week seven but he feels three years behind. How?

"I wish," Naruto whispers under his breath.

"Take your shoes off, Kiba. You're dragging shit everywhere." Sasuke warns, still irritated by the stress of student life. Why was second year so hard? He adds, "Were you raised in a barn of something?"

Kiba frowns at this. "So what if I was? Jesus was technically raised in a barn and I think it's rude to talk smack about our Lord and saviour."

Kiba turns his nose upwards, proclaiming nonsense, as he peels his shoes off before stripping his socks off. He doesn't even bother arranging his sneakers right. He just flings them aside by the shoe rack.

"Jesus was  _born_  in a barn, dumbass." Sasuke says and Naruto hums in annoyance because conversation and noise in general were distracting. "And what do you care about Jesus? You said you were an Atheist."

Kiba waves this off. "Whatever, just remember that we're going to Tenten's on Friday for basketball social."

Naruto massages his temple, a clear sign that he's about to yell at everyone to shut up. Out of all the people to go into a joint tenancy with, why did it have to be with Kiba Inuzaka? Kiba who leaves his dishes in the sink for a whole week, kicks both Sasuke and Naruto off the Wi-Fi to game and eat their food without permission.

"Just go shower." Sasuke tells him. He wrinkles his nose. "You smell like a wet dog."

Kiba only rolls his eyes before doing as he's told. "Bossy,"

Sasuke only mutters under his breath in reply.

The thing about Kiba was … he a difficult housemate. He was a good friend, really. But not so much on being a housemate.

When Kiba's finally out of sight, Sasuke and Naruto give each other this look before making a face.

Naruto whispers, "If you don't murder him then I will."

But Sasuke only shakes his head in return as if to say  _Don't blow your future and end up in jail for that guy._ Then a memory pops into Sasuke's head and he directs the conversation elsewhere.

"Oh," Sasuke voices as if he suddenly remembered something. "I forgot to tell you, I saw that girl again,"

"Huh?" Naruto asks, his ring finger desperately pressing the backspace key as if he wanted to erase everything; his hard work, his struggles, the bane of his existence. "What girl?"

"The one that helped me with my essay."

"Oh!  _Oh_ chill!" Naruto exclaims, suddenly not as dead and annoyed. The blonde looks up from his draft and asks, "Did you thank her?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No, she was busy."

"You couldn't wait five seconds for her to finish whatever she was doing?" Naruto practically scolds, sounding annoyed once again.

Sasuke answers in the most monotone voice ever, "She literally took a selfie then ran away."

Naruto pauses, face sucked up and eyes squinting, "Did I just hear that right?"

"Uh-huh,"

Then Naruto takes notice of Sasuke when the dark haired boy reaches over and grabs his cup and takes a sip of its content. It's tea and this causes Naruto to continue squinting. "Why are you drinking tea? You hate it."

Sasuke looks Naruto straight in the eye. He clears his throat that sounds clogged up, "Why do you think?"

* * *

It's late as the Autumn sun sets. It's already dark when Hinata walks out of her room to use the bathroom. It's nine PM so she expects to hear light chattering from the dining room or the front door locking or someone returning from a club activity.

What Hinata didn't expect is to Sakura Haruno lying on the floor of her room from across the hall. The pink haired girl's bedroom door is open wide enough for Hinata to see Sakura has a foot propped up on her swirling chair, yellow highlighter limp in her hand and revision notebook covering her face. Hinata knows that pose – that's the pose of defeat.

Upon inching closer, Hinata sees Sakura's phone lying on her chest, the playlist Sakura was listening to was solely dedicated to  _Bastille_. Yup, that was totally the pose of defeat. Most of  _Bastille_ 's songs were about dystopian worlds with no chance of survival so ...

"Sakura-san?" Hinata asks.

"Let death embrace me." Sakura mumbles.

"Is everything alright?" Hinata's eyebrows curve with worry. At first Hinata thinks it's because of the stump of being stuck on her essay but then Hinata hears it – a cough.

Shit!

 _Shit_ , this is not the time to be sick. This is not a luxury they can afford, not when there's a hundred and one things to do. Whoever said university life was just filled with fun times and parties? It's more like deadlines, deadlines and more deadlines sprinkled with Fresher's Flu sprinkled on top.

"You're sick," Hinata answers her own question, pearly eyes wide.

Sakura talks through the book covering her face, "Yup,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes
> 
> Y'all do know you're following a plot-less story that will die off because I have zero knowledge on romance, right? Like, the closest romantic thing I've ever gotten to a date was smuggling warm chicken nuggets into a movie because the snacks behind the counter were too expensive. Besides that, my bi self has just been jumping around crushes. I only got to squeeze in one conversation with my guy crush and that was a 'Hi' while passing by our seminar leader's office. While I didn't even get to see my girl crush because I've been so booked!
> 
> Week 12 and I am still sick.
> 
> I've still got my presentation due, a self-reflection portfolio, a lunch date around 2pm in the middle of fucking winter and a birthday dinner in which I have only bought an ugly Diva Dog card to.
> 
> I'm tired and busy and not as funny but I do hope you enjoyed this series while it lasted. I'm just listening go 'Lotto' on repeat and I feel like a cocky mafia warlord that can seduce ALL the girls.
> 
> – 8 December 2017


	5. Chapter 5

**I had a feeling about you**

* * *

**chapter five**

* * *

She knew. Sakura Haruno knew before her head had even hit the pillow that she was sick. Her head ached, her lungs hurt, and her body felt both hot and cold.

Tonight was going to be a struggle. She was probably going to have one of those weird fever dreams as soon as she falls asleep. You know, those kinds where your mind feels like it's in another dimension and you end up waking up in the middle of the night only to plunge deeper into a fitful sleep. She knew all of this was going to happen because she had a fever coupled with a sore throat and flu.

But she also knew there was no way of escaping any fever dreams because she needed a good night's rest in order to recover. When you're a university student, you don't have time to be sick. And that was a sad true fact.

So Sakura prepares for an early night. She dresses in her warmest onesie, takes cough medicine to help soothe her sore throat and squeezes her eyes shut as she tucked herself into bed. And soon, she starts drifting off.

Sakura slowly loses her grip on the world; sounds fade and become distant. The last thing she remembers about the peaceful night is listening to her housemates moving about – Ino pacing in her room as she talks to her parents on the other line of the phone, Tenten taking her night shower after a long day, Hinata singing in the kitchen as she cooks late dinner – and then Sakura falls asleep.

* * *

"On a scale of one to ten, how stressed is Sakura?" Ino asks, worried.

It's a quiet morning, eleven AM; the kettle's boiling in the background, a vitamin C tablet fizzles in Tenten's favourite cup, Hinata's playing a quick idle game of Sudoku in the morning paper.

"My name should answer your question," Tenten says, brown eyes reading an article on her phone screen. There are far too many cake stickers on her phone case for someone who has abs and goes to the gym twice a week. "I heard her muttering aloud to herself, saying she couldn't read words."

Ino frowns into her cereal. "Oh, that's  _not_  good."

"Isn't she sick too?" Hinata asks, pausing mid-game, pencil in hand.

"Is she?" Tenten asks back.

Hinata bobs her head in reply. "I saw her laying on the ground yesterday, she looked so miserable. I didn't think anything of it until I heard her, it sounded phlegm-y. I told her to go to bed after that."

Tenten's eyebrows knitted together, she puts down her phone and takes a sip of her vitamin C drink, She asks, "Then why did she go to class?"

Ino answers with a sigh, "You know how much of a good-noodle she is, prioritizing her grades and attendance over her health."

"Should we drag her home?" Tenten asks, now mirroring Ino's previously worried look, while Hinata spins her pencil between her fingers, listening to the conversation.

Ino only shakes her head. "Did you forget what day it is?"

Tenten hums in return. "You're right, it's a Thursday, everyone's busy."

"I mean, technically the three of us are busy with classes and club activities. But Sakura-san only has one seminar in the morning and then she just roots herself in the silent PC room for the whole day to do her reading." Hinata answers then gives the two a gentle smile. "But, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. If Sakura-san realizes she's too sick then she can just go home early. There's no need for her to be on campus for hours on end. I'm sure she'll be fine."

* * *

 **Guys, I need your help, please**. Sakura sends a text to the house group chat and waits for a reply.

Green eyes look out the large glass library window. It's six PM but already dark thanks to the fact that Autumn's turning into Winter soon.

 **R u OK?**  Ino is the first to reply. Which makes a lot of sense because Ino is practically inseparable from her phone.

 **No, I'm not. I don't feel so good. Like, the opposite of fine. I'm sick. I feel really, really weak.**  Sakura replies **. I don't think I can walk home alone. I feel like I might faint 1/3 of the journey.** Which is saying a lot because it's only a fifteen minute walk.  **Can someone accompany me home?**

 **I can't D:** Ino answers, adding several sad emoji faces.  **My club just started, I'm leading today's activity w/ this girl n I can't just flake out on her.**

Before Sakura can add anything to the conversation, Hinata goes online and types.  **Same here, I'm sorry, Sakura-san ˚** **‧** **(** **º·** **(̣̣** **̥** **̣̣᷄** **‧** **º·** **)** **Hogwarts Society is having a Quidditch match, we're starting in five minutes. I think Tenten-san is in a basketball game now too so she won't answer her phone.**

Sakura sucks in a breath, her grip tightening around her phone. What's she going to do? All her coursemate friends have already gone home so there's no one on campus who can help her.

 **Can you wait until our clubs end**   **(** **ﾟヘﾟ** **) ?**  Hinata asks.

 **I don't think I can. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast, I'm starving.** Sakura answers. And she knows exactly the type of response she'll get.

 **FOREHEAD!**  Ino scolds.  **U knew u were sick n yet u still didn't eat anything?**

…  **Sorry.**  Sakura apologizes. It's just … She didn't have the stomach for it. Just smelling food alone made her feel nauseous.

 **Why would you do that** **ヾ** **(** **｡** **﹏｡** **)** **ﾉﾞ**

 **Sorry.**  Sakura repeats then asks,  **Ino, can you ask Sai to send me home?**

 **Umm …** Ino types.  **Sai went home 4 the weekend.**

**But it's a Thursday … ?**

**He doesn't attend any of his lectures. Since they're recorded, he views them online. He only goes 2 his seminars, Mon-Thurs.**

**Oh.**  Sakura replies, a single word of disappointment. She feels her stomach clench, growling for food, begging for attention. She holds back the need to cough as she tries to think of an alternative.

Several seconds ticked by, Sakura racks her brain hard. She knows taking a taxi is out of the question. Not to mention, expensive and stupid too. The shortcut she takes home is down a paved hill, easy and convenient. But if she travels by road, it would take ages due to the traffic, everyone's going home now. She's  _not_ spending money on that. It's no use, her head's too muddled up to think of anymore options.

 _Stupid fever._  Sakura thinks then looks back at her phone. She notes that no one is answering the group chat anymore, she knows Ino and Hinata must have started their club activities. Meaning, she was all alone on this matter.

Well … this seemed bad.

* * *

 **i've got one person in mind that can send Sakura home.** Tenten's message pops up.

 **Why did you create a new group chat without Sakura-san? (** **๑** **0_0** **๑** **)**  Hinata asks.

Ino texts back,  **Yeah, it feels like we r whispering.**

 **because she may not like the person I'm asking for help.**  Tenten answers.

 **Who? A friend of yours? Can we trust your friend? ('_'** **）╯** Hinata asks, always the cautious one out of the group.

 **I'm w/ HinaBanina, do we know this person?** Ino asks.

 **yeah. he's one of the boys from basketball. he didn't show up for practice today.** Tenten replies. She's been reading everyone's message for the past few minutes or so while scrolling through her contact list, looking for someone who could help Sakura's dilemma.

**ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ Okay then, that's great!**

It all looked hopeful and resolved until Tenten adds,  **but you may not like him too.**

Ino writes. **Who cares? It's better than Forehead walking home alone. What if something happens to her? I don't want to find her passed out on the street. The location around the uni's small enough to classify itself as a small town like those horror movies.**

 **Ino-san (** **」゜ロ゜** **)** **」** **Don't make me even more worried!**  Hinata writes.

 **Don't worry about it. Everything's settled. It'll be fine.**  Ino replies airily.

 **okay, I'll ask him. but just a head's up, don't say I didn't tell you two that you wouldn't like him.**  Tenten texts back. She gets an okay emoji from Ino and a thumbs-up from Hinata in return. It's been approved.

* * *

Sakura sniffs and tries to swallow her already cold tea from her thermos. Her throat feels dry and itchy, she's lethargic and she doesn't think she has the energy to hold a conversation. Much less walk home if she waits any longer. All, she wants to do is drink some soup, jump into her bed and sleep to recover. She can feel her fever rising. It's not Freshers' Flu but it's some mutated bug of the kind. And Sakura hates it.

She's been coughing like a madman since morning. Too much times if you asked her. So much so that she felt pressured to move to from the silent room to the social area of the library. All those glares were not worth it. And now that she's gotten all her studying under her belt, Sakura just wants someone to get her and take her home.

And Tenten was the one to provide that helpful someone. But,  _still_ , Sakura can't help but wonder why Tenten had sent her suspicious sounding texts and told her to wait in the library open area.

A text buzzes in before Sakura can mull over Tenten's suspicious behaviour any further. And when Sakura unlocks her phone, she sees it's from none other than the brunette herself. It reads,  **when my friend shows up,**   **don't be mad at him.**

Sakura feels herself frowning as she reads the text message. This should have been a clear red flag waving in her face but she's too sick and practically brain dead to react properly. She asks,  **Why? Are you sending someone irresponsible to get me?**

 **kinda …**  Tenten answers then quickly explains herself,  **and I say kinda because he couldn't come to practice due to this hang over he's having but heeeyyy, at least he can pick you up!**

**TENTEN!**

Tenten rambles,  **come on, Sakura! just be grateful, he's nice enough to walk you home!**

 _Oh no_ , Tenten was adding exclamation to her sentences. That was a bad sign. She's trying to mask distress with excitement.

Tenten continues her texts,  **that's gotta be worth** _ **something**_ **, right?! and because of his hung over state, he'll be quiet and stuff! zero conversation required!**

Sakura doesn't even try to keep quiet as she lets out a loud groan. With her free hand, she massages her left throbbing temple. If it hurt before then it difficult hurt more now. She asks what seemed like her hundredth question for the night,  **Who's picking me up?**

.

.

.

There's a three second pause but then the text reads:  **Kiba.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes
> 
> One more update to go before I run out of ideas. It was supposed to be in this chapter but I like suspense, and I'm lazy because I'm sick like Sakura. Funny, because when I wrote the last chapter, I was sick too. And now I'm sick again.
> 
> When you wanna study but your fever brain gave you a nightmare about a group. project. due. so you avoid school work altogether and just post fanfic for three days straight because the trauma is too real!
> 
> And, I get to use the title in the story next chapter, yaaay!
> 
> Also, about last sem or something, I finally experience what the guy I mentioned in chapter one felt. So I had just finished writing my essay, I was 700 over the word limit. My dumb ass bitch wrote too much shit. My hands were cold and shaking by the time I had to write the bibliography because I had five minutes left to spare after spending time cutting down all those words. Like, fuck, now I know how that dude felt.
> 
> – 28 February 2018


	6. Chapter 6

**I had a feeling about you**

* * *

**chapter six**

* * *

_Kiba?!_

Wait, she didn't think that right.  _KIBA?!_

_Oh no._  Sakura thought as she stared at Tenten's text. Kiba? Really? Of all the people to pick her up when she's close to death's door, it had to be him – dog boy?

No,  _no_ ,  **no**.

Sakura did not like Kiba. Not one bit. Not after that incident last year when the girls were living on campus and Sakura witness Kiba getting drunk out of his mind during pre-drinks before breaking something. It would have been semi-fine if he had felt remorse the next day but he  _didn't_!

To Sakura, Kiba Inuzaka was the loudest, most arrogant, certified alcoholic university student Sakura Haruno has  _ever_  fucking met. And she's saying  _something_  because they're in university and almost everyone drinks and parties hard.

Cradling her pounding head, Sakura feels herself squirm with discomfort. Why did she have to have such bad luck? Well, maybe 'bad luck' wasn't the right word. Unfortunate timing? No. More like cursed!

If she wasn't so hungry, she probably could have stayed three more hours on campus but …

But does she really have a choice?

No.

The answer is 'no'.

So she guesses she'll just have to accept the fact that Kiba's walking her home.

* * *

Her entire body feels shiver as Sakura sits near the entry of the library. She wishes she could lean against something but these sofas have no backs, they're just those weird comfy stool seats. She doesn't want to be here but the seating near the reception desk is the best place for Kiba to easily spot her.

Ugh, she hates being sick and tired and having nothing to do but fiddle with her equally dying phone.

"I better get a first," Sakura whispers just as she feels a tap on her shoulder followed by her name being called, "Haruno?"

_Huh_ , she must be less in touch with Kiba than she thought. She almost didn't recognize his voice. It's … deeper and definitely more husky than the normal shrill of Kiba's usual tone. Is her fever brain that bad that she can't recognize Kiba's voice anymore?

Sakura stars turning her messy head – and when she means 'messy head', she means it figuratively and literally, her brain's melting and her hair is a rat's nest – then asks in her scratchy voice, "Kiba-kun?"

But when Sakura fully turns, she stops.

No. She completely freezes, like a deer at a headlight because the person tapping her shoulder is. not. Kiba. He's not Kiba at all. It's two minute submission essay guy – uh, no, she means it's beautiful stranger – wait, she means, Sauce – no, wait, she means ... Sakura doesn't know what she means.

Sasuke Uchiha.

(ah, yes, that's it. But still,  _frick_ )

Sakura doesn't immediately move, still frozen. She's determining to stay like a statue until her illness wins, ticking her throat and causing her to let out another loud cough, phlegm globs and everything, Sakura decides she can't keep staring at Sasuke because she might just drop dead in front of him.

WHERE THE FUCK IS KIBA?!

"That's me," Sakura finds herself answering weakly. "Um, hi …"

Oh God, the phlegm is making her sound so distorted. Out of all of the days for her to finally talk to Sasuke, why does it have to be the day she's sick and looking like a hot mess with her oversized hoodie and reading glasses and disaster messy bun? She looks like death …

… and coincidentally, so does Sasuke. Um, why isn't he as beautiful as the other day?

He tips his chin to acknowledge her greeting. He looks equally as uncomfortable then he tells her, "Come on, let's go."

This makes Sakura pause. She raises a brow, just what does this boy mean? "Where?"

"I'm walking you home." Sasuke replies.

_Wait, what?!_

Sakura blinks in return. It takes her a whole five seconds to process his words. "Eh?"

"I'm walking you home." Sasuke repeats and Sakura notices how raspy his voice sounds. Is he … sick too?

"No … Kiba-kun is." Sakura finds herself answering then coughing. She can't even give him a piece of her mind because of her ill state.

"I'm taking Kiba's place." Sasuke says. "That fool's passed out at home, drunk, he can't even walk in a straight line."

Sakura swear she would cry if she wasn't so tired and dehydrated. "O – Oh,"

"Yeah …" Sasuke mutters, hands buried deep in his coat. "So … are you just going to sit there or what?"

She wants to say 'or what?' but a voice at the back of her head, the same voices of her worried housemates, screams at her to get back home safety. To get better and heal up and not cause drama.

She finally answers, "I'm coming."

But can death please come a little faster, please?

...

The silence between the two on the way to Sakura's house wasn't really silence. Not really when Sakura spent a majority of the walk coughing her lungs out and Sasuke asking, "Are you okay?" every twenty seconds because even though Sasuke may be sick as well, Sakura's convinced she's literally dying and she's  _not okay_  but she  **can't**  tell him that. Not because she cares about his feelings or whatever, it's because she's too busy coughing to answer.

This was going from awkward to imminent death.

"I'm honestly worried about you." Sasuke admits which strikes something within Sakura. Because suddenly, she forgets that she's embarrassed of how she looks. Suddenly she remembers that –  _hey,_  she was mad at this guy. Or at least Ino was. Because he had just given her this anxiety attack and didn't even say 'thank you'.

"Why?" She asks. Was it his guilty conscience? Having this sickly girl who helped him not even getting a thanks?

Wait, no, that was too deep. It's just a bad lung infection.

"You're sick, why shouldn't I be worried about you?" His response came.

It was … so human. So caring? It was so different from his attitude from the other day. Maybe a part of Sakura had expected him to just be a major jerk? Maybe she had judged him wrong? A little too soon over one small thing.

She means, he's sick as well and he's walking her home on this cold night. He's putting her first and asking if she's okay.

Sakura furrows her brow but she doesn't answer – body shaking as she tries to clear her throat. When he asks again if she's alright, Sakura waves her hand and takes a large gulp of water. She would have popped in a  _Strepsils_ or something but she thinks she's already overdoing it. She tells him, "I'm … I don't sound as bad as I feel."

That was a lie and she knows Sasuke could tell too.

"So …" Sakura starts, attempting to distract him. "Kiba-kun's … drunk, you say?"

"Passed out." Sasuke nods, not minding the small talk. "Absolutely hammered."

"… He … hasn't changed, has he?"

"No."

"… Interesting."

"I don't think 'Kiba' and 'interesting' should fit in the same sentence." Sasuke scoffs. Or maybe that was a cough.

Well, this conversation is turning into a disaster of a train wreck. What the heck do they have in common to keep this small talk up?

"Why aren't you with Tenten and Naruto-kun for club activities?"

Sasuke snorts, eyes her slow steps before explaining himself, "That Dobe told me to go home after he noticed how shitty I looked."

"Ah,"

He does look kinda … shitty with his dark circles and chapped lips.

Sakura feels so bad for Sasuke. He's trying to be polite. He's worried about her and she can't even answer him properly without coughing. She probably going to give him a heart attack if she keeps this up.

She opens her mouth to continue whatever was going on between then but more coughing fills the silence until Sakura is able to talk again. But by then, they're already near her house and Sakura can see her dark unoccupied house.

Her brain is melting and she's about to be left completely alone once Sasuke leaves.

… Once Sasuke leaves.

She stops dead in her tracks.

And so does Sasuke as he looks on with her with this nervous look. "Haruno …?"

"Why did you ask me for help that day?" Sakura asks and stands her ground. She doesn't know where this sudden burning bravery is coming from. Maybe it's from her change of heart about Sasuke being an ass or maybe it was Ino's promise or maybe it was her fever that was making her delirious and breaking her boundaries.

Sasuke blinks, equally sick and probably delirious as well. Delirious but willing to walk this total stranger back home on this cold night. He shrugs. "I dunno."

Sakura imagines if they were at better health and a better standpoint, this could have played out better. She doesn't want to pry but 'I dunno' is not a good enough of an answer.

"I …" Dark eyes focus on Sakura's short frame. "I dunno," He repeats then trails off.

Sakura thinks he's about to leave his sentence hanging but then he surprises her.

He adds something more, "I just – I had a feeling about you."

_A feeling?_ What kind of feeling?

"Oh ..." She feels her face heat up and herself flush. She tells herself it's the fever.

And soon, a whole explanation comes pouring out. "I mean, I'm absolute shit at planning. I start with this plan, this idea of  _when to start_  and  _how to start_  then suddenly I'm  **a week behind**  and know nothing. You just … stood out?"

_Stood out?_  Sakura always considered herself average compared to pretty Ino and sporty Tenten and soft Hinata.

"You seem like the type to have everything together. You had everything together, you really saved my ass and I just …" Sasuke tells her though it sounds more like a confession. "… I never thanked you for it."

"Oh." She's definitely blushing now.

"Thank you, by the way." He even bows his head. It's too formal, too strange.

"Y – You're welcome." Sakura says, hands scrambling to do  _something_. "T – Thank you too."

He lifts his head, eyebrows raised. "Why are you thanking me?"

"I … You walked me home."

"It was nothing."

It's not nothing.

"I feel like … I have a feeling we started on the wrong foot." Sakura says, remarkably not breaking out into a coughing fit.

"Yeah," Sasuke admits, clearing his throat.

Here's her chance to fix it. Fix it.  _Fix it!_

"Would it … would it be okay if we started over –" Sakura asks then adds, "– Sasuke-kun?" because why the hell not?

He looks at her, messy dark hair and dark circles, cracking a smile. It's the first smile she's ever seen him wear. "I would like that,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes
> 
> The reason I made Sakura and Sasuke clash in studying type is to give the two characters a misunderstanding. Sakura thinks Sasuke is a slacker for putting off his essay last minute when the time frame given to write the essay is a few weeks worth while Sasuke who's a couple of weeks behind his lectures feels Sakura is an over-achiever who does nothing but study and it rubs him wrong. It's not like he wanted to fall behind, who wants to fall behind? Things just pile up sometimes. It's clear to see their personalities clash. And honestly, don't we all have those moments where we would rather not hang out with the hard worker who makes us feel crap for not knowing a topic or the slacker who doesn't know anything and makes us feel like crap for carrying everything on our shoulders. I'm writing them in the best opposite student way possible so it's realistic that they wouldn't want to meet each other again. They're not friends, they're not even in the same class or club. What is there to gain? Why meet up for five seconds to say sorry when you can spend that five seconds doing other stuff student life doesn't let you. And yes, five seconds is cherished a lot. Don't tell me you don't wish for five more seconds in bed, I know I do.
> 
> – 7 August 2018


End file.
